Floating figures on the shoreline above the Exhaust-Lands, the city Puerto-Ala-Cruz looms overhead. After the fallout of the Orbital Wars in 5058 radiation has polluted the earth’s atmosphere and Kessler Syndrome has ruined the shared dream of constant expansion.
Proto-Ciudad is a collaboration between visual and aural artists to create an experimental electronic soundscape and collection of sci-fi found-footage accompanying the narrative above. Visuals Void (Adán Guevara) strikes the digital canvas with a heavy inspiration from surrealist architecture collectives, such as ARCHIGRAM, to create harrowing depictions of the late stage capital colossus. Adopting Deantoni Parks’ “Technoself Method”, Jake Morton combines field recordings from both Venezuelan and Australian metropolis and coastal environments with hyper-compressed sounds of the drum kit, all in real-time. Guevara’s surreal architecture wraps fear and desperation into the illusion of skyrise living. Morton’s soundscapes hold the listener under waves of hopelessness, as they imagine a fictional habitat where progress is poison and safety is lottery.